JANUARY 2021

 

Friday 1 January 2021

First day of 2021 and I've been completely by myself all day. I really do hope that this lock down is only three weeks.

Monday 4 January 2021

As expected. the lock down has been extended and it is now 'illegal' for us to leave home, apart from essential reasons, until 1 February. What are essential reasons? Who knows? I guess I'm still OK to take the dog out because after all owning a gorgeous little Collie pup in a fourth floor flat, requires me to take her outside for toileting purposes.

I'd like to say, things can only get better, but every time I say that, they get a whole lot worse.

Tuesday 5 January 2021

OK so apparently the whole of the UK is back in lock down as of today. This is supposedly similar to the first one. To be honest, I came back from Cornwall at the end of October and ever since then I've been pretty much locked up anyway. Apart from going out for lunch with a friend once, all I've been doing is walking the dog and going to the supermarket. I'm struggling to see how this new lock down is any different to what I've been doing for months. At least they've closed all the schools now. It must be very difficult for pupils, teachers and parents but I really do believe that schools are one of the main spreaders of Covid.

This afternoon I went down to Portobello in the car so that Trixie could have a run on the beach. The car has been sitting out in the freezing cold weather for two weeks to I thought that it needed a run. Was it essential to do that? Probably not, but there again, a flat battery would have caused me a lot of unnecessary stress and expense, so for me it was essential.

Definition of essential (according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary) – exceedingly important.

Popped into the Range to buy some knitting wool so that I've got something to do while I'm watching hours and hours of rubbish TV. Was it essential to go into the Range? Probably not, but it's open so people go in there. Why is it open?

When the first lock down was announced the world went silent over night. I could have done all the dog walks down the middle of the main road, there was no little traffic about. This time around, nothing much has changed. At 8.15am this morning there was loads of cars on the roads and loads of people waiting at bus stops. During proper lock down, no one waited at bus stops. No one went on buses. Take away's were closed during first lock down so why are they essential now. Can people not live without a Costa coffee, or a pizza or a Chinese, or even an IKEA meatball? The whole thing is just a joke. And because all these places are open, everybody is flocking to them.

This is not a proper lock down. It's just what we've all been doing for the last three months.

Wednesday 6 January 2021

Single people are still allowed support bubbles (or extended households as they're known in Scotland) and we can go for a walk with one other person. S came round for lunch and then I walked her half the way home. All legal and above board. It doesn't get much more exciting than that!

Thursday 7 January 2021

Walked more than 10 miles on the dog walk today, purely because I had nothing better to do.

Oh and today I received a letter from my travel insurance company informing me that my annual payment would be due soon, and money would be taken straight of my card at the end of the month. Why do they always do that? Just assume that they can take the money straight off the card that one originally paid with and then put the onus on the customer to actually cancel it. I only signed up to annual travel insurance last year because I had three holidays planned. It's an absolute nightmare trying to phone any of these companies. I had to listen to a load of automated rubbish about, 'your call is important to us and we are experiencing a high level of calls at the moment.' Grrrrrrr........... if the travel ins co was proactive, they would have sent out a letter saying: 'Due to Covid we understand that no one is booking travel at the moment so we will not automatically be renewing your travel insurance.'

Everything just seems like such an effort at the moment.

Saturday 9 January 2021

Today I did an on-line supermarket shop. It only took me an hour and a half. Lol! When first lock down started, none of the major supermarkets were taking on new customers and to be honest I'd far rather go to the supermarket and choose stuff myself. However, as an old person living by myself, I decided that it was something that I should learn to do, just in case I catch Covid and have no one to help me shop. Signed up to Asda because that was the only one that seemed to be accepting new customers. I didn't really need anything, but just to try it out; I bought, 6 bottles of wine, toilet rolls, kitchen roll, soap powder and some dental sticks for Trixie. It should all be delivered on Wednesday.

Monday 11 January 2021

Just watching the news. Lock down could be tightened. I don't even know what that means, let alone how it would be enforced. Nobody seems to be following the rules anyway.

At the start of proper lock down, there was nobody waiting at bus stops, there was no traffic on the road, there were no takeaway coffee shops open, and there were no shops open for click and collect, except for supermarkets. As far as I am concerned, the only shops that should be open are supermarkets and pharmacies. Today I walked past the local toy shop and it was open for click & collect. Why? Yesterday I went to Superdrug to pick up a lipstick that I'd ordered. Firstly a lipstick is not really an essential item, and secondly, why is Superdrug open anyway. It doesn't have a pharmacy so it shouldn't be open. The trouble is; if these non-essential shops are open, then people will go into them.

Lock down should mean lock down.

This whole lock down thing is just a joke. I'm not allowed to go to my house in Cornwall by myself and yet it's OK for me to stand in a queue at a coffee takeaway or a toy shop.

Tuesday 12 January 2021

This morning on the dog walk, I counted coffee shops. That's how mundane my life has become. There are 30 coffee shops within a 15 min walk of my flat, and that's not counting Greggs and the numerous small bakeries or ice cream shops that also sell coffee. Why are any of these shops even allowed to open. Coffee wasn't considered to be essential during first lock down so why is it suddenly essential now?

Open up takeaways and non-essential shops for click and collect and people will go out. Why can't we just close everything apart from supermarkets and pharmacies. If people don't have anywhere to go then surely they will just stay in.

I've booked my car in for an MOT & service at the end of the month. Why am I even allowed to do that? During first lock down, garages were only open for essential work and MOTs were delayed.

Wednesday 13 January 2021

Today I have done nothing. Not that there's much change there. I wish I could be like all these motivated people who have learnt a new language or developed a new skill during lock down. The thing is.................... when lock down was first announced on the 23^rd March 2020, I thought it was just going to be for three weeks, not almost a year. If I'd known that I was going to loose a year out of my life I might have signed up for a course, or at least planned my life a bit better.

The goal posts keep getting changed all the time. Ie, first we were told that we were going to be locked down till the 16^th January, then that was changed to the 1^st February, and I bet when we get to the 1^st February, it will be changed again.

Apparently there's going to be a lot of 'tightening' of the rules...................... takeaways to operate from a hatch and people to book a time slot for click and collect. No mention of support bubbles so hopefully Nicola's not going to get rid of those, and there doesn't seem to be any change to the 'meeting one person outside rule.' Not that any of my friends would want to go for a walk with me in this weather anyway.

Saturday 16 January 2021

Went on another mega long walk today. There seemed to be loads of groups of students out for a stroll in groups of five or six (even though the students have been told not to return to uni) and not a policeman in sight. During the first lock down there were police all over the place moving old single people on if they dared to sit down for a rest.

Oh and it's just been announced that Carbis Bay is going to host the G7 sumitt in June. Mmmmm.......... that's always assuming we'll be out of lock down by then I suppose. Otherwise there's going to be a huge surge in Covid cases in Cornwall?!

Monday 18 January 2021

Apparently Nicola is going to make an announcement tomorrow as to whether we're going to be locked up for longer. Well I think we all know the answer to that!!!

Tuesday 19 January 2021

Went and did a Meet & Greet. Apparently the visitor was in Edinburgh for a funeral. During first lock down nobody was allowed to go to funerals.

I also went and did a supermarket shop for Mrs R. If I think my life is bad.......................... it must be ten times worse for someone like her who can't see any of her family.

Wednesday 20 January 2021

The weather is still pretty bad so none of my friends want to meet me outside. Met a snowman on the dog walk this morning. Lol!

Scotland's lock down is now continuing until the middle of February, but we all know it's going to go on a lot longer than that. I just don't believe anything Nicola says anymore. I'm 100% certain that when we get to the middle of February she'll just extend it again. And again and again. Rumour has it that this lock down could go on until after Easter.

I'm supposed to be in my St Ives home at the moment, but who even knows when we'll be allowed out of Scotland. I keep hearing awful stories about how Nicola has posted police at the borders and they're making people turn around and go back home. How true these stories are, I don't know.

What I don't understand is..................... how the G7 summit can be organised for June in St Ives when we don't even know if we'll be out of lock down by then? Do the politicians know something that the general public don't? Have they not heard of Zoom? Is life really going to be back to normal by June? I very much doubt it. In fact, I don't think that life will ever go back to normal. Can anyone even remember what normal is?

I'm a fit and healthy 61 year old, with no underlying health issues so I think it's highly unlikely that I will get the Covid vaccine until the summer at the earliest. Scotland seems to be miles behind England re vaccinating the general public.

Friday 22 January 2021

Statistics and databases drive me mad!

There's a new advertising campaign out in Scotland saying that 1 in 3 people have Covid but have no symptoms so when you go to the supermarket you could be touching a trolley that someone who has been infected has touched. Surely that's always been the case. I thought that was why everyone was obsessed about sanitising their hands every time they went into a shop. What's more to the point................. if a third of the country (and I'm talking Scotland here) have/had Covid, but don't know it and 95% of people in care homes have had the vaccine, why is the rate so high in Scotland?

Are these figures accurate. The guy that I was Meeting & Greeting on Tuesday was going to the funeral of someone who had Covid on their death certificate, but they hadn't actually gone into hospital for anything to do with Covid and their death was imminent. He may well have caught Covid in hospital and ultimately died, but what of the condition that he'd actually gone in with? There seems like a lot of deaths are being recorded as death because of Covid, whereas in reality a lot of these people would have died from another issue anyway.

Just watching the news and everything is so depressing. Nobody seems willing to commit to how long this lock down is going on for. I was supposed to be going to a wedding in Cornwall in June and the bride & groom have just postponed it until the summer of 2022. And yet the G7 summit is in St Ives in June and all the planning for that is still going ahead.

I guess I'll just have to carry on doing what I'm doing, which is walking the dog for miles and miles, doing a supermarket shop for Mrs R and seeing my support bubble approximately once a week.

Saturday 23 January 2021

What do you do when your support bubble becomes a granny and hasn't a clue when she will be able to see her new grandchild?........................ Drink champagne all afternoon. That's what!

Monday 25 January 2021

Three weeks in lock down done. We've got at least another three weeks to endure and let's face it.............. we all know that this lock down is going to go on for longer. I wish these politicians would adopt the 'under promise and over deliver approach'. If they told us we'd be locked down until Easter and let us out in March, we'd all be really happy.

And the thing that is annoying me today is......................... all these people who are on furlough and are posting on social media, 'Not going out. Saving loads of money. Going to book a fab holiday when this is all over. Installing a hot tub in the garden.'

In retrospect, when I decided to make my Edinburgh flat my permanent home in 2019, I should have registered my St Ives home as a business and not as a second home and then I would have been entitled to a £10,000 pay out. I thought I was doing the honest thing because I wasn't renting it out for enough days to legally claim that it was a business. However, I know people who hardly ever rent out their house (and who have registered it as a business), got the £10,000 pay-out and have totally refurbished it. It's wrong. All wrong!

Wednesday 27 January 2021

Did the morning dog walk to see a friend who was 80 years old today. Didn't stay long because I wasn't allowed to go into her house. She sat in her porch, I dropped her bag of presents on the doorstep and then stood back 2m in the mizzle & drizzle and we had a chat for 10 mins. I bet that wasn't the 80^th birthday that she'd been expecting.

Sunday 31 January 2021

Signs of lockdown! Today I set myself a little project to see how many signs of lock down I could spot as I trekked around the city on a 6.5 mile dog walk.